Traditional security systems operate on the principal of limiting access to data. Each user of the system is generally identified with a user name, and access rights are assigned to each user. For example, users may be permitted or prevented from accessing certain files or adding new hardware to a computer system. Users may also be assigned to groups where each member of the group is given common access rights. Often a great amount of administrative effort has been put into creating users and groups and assigning them appropriate access rights in a traditional computer security system. For example, Microsoft Windows provides Active Directory for creating users and groups and assigning access to resources throughout a computer network. File systems also often provide access control. For example, the NT File System (NTFS) provides folder and file access based on user and group identifiers and the type of access requested such as read, write, execute, and other operations. An organization may have an extensive scheme of groups and access rights. For example, there may be a group of accounting department users that have different rights than engineering department users. The organization may also have identified certain users as administrators that have additional rights to administer the system.
Computer systems contain large amounts of personal data, such as financial data, names, addresses, telephone numbers, bank account information, photographs and much more. Corporate computer systems often contain confidential information, such as trade secrets, manufacturing processes, business strategy, and so on. With the increased reliance on computer systems to store critical information, the importance of protecting this data against loss has grown. For example, traditional storage management systems receive an identification of a file location of an original file and then create one or more secondary copies, such as backup files, containing the contents of the original file. These secondary copies can then later be used to restore the original data should anything happen to the original data. Secondary copies of data are often stored in a publicly accessible location for quick restoration of data in the event of a disaster or other data loss event. For example, backup files may be stored on a widely accessible server, and tapes and other media used for storing backup files may be physically accessible to many users.
Backed up data may contain sensitive information that is more widely accessible than the original data. Backing up data often removes the data from the well-planned security environment in which it was originally stored. Even though a system administrator may have gone to great lengths to properly limit access to data throughout a network, once the data is stored as one or more secondary copies it is often more accessible than originally intended. For example, the CEO of a company may have many sensitive files on a computer system that only he can access, but if that computer system is backed up, then the backup files may allow unauthorized users to have access to data that they would not normally be able to access. In addition, some systems provide searches based on backup data in which the backup data is indexed. Indexed content does not have the protections imposed on the original files.
There is a need for a system that overcomes the above problems, as well as providing additional benefits.
In the drawings, the same reference numbers and acronyms identify elements or acts with the same or similar functionality for ease of understanding and convenience. To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to the Figure number in which that element is first introduced (e.g., element 110 is first introduced and discussed with respect to FIG. 1).
The headings provided herein are for convenience only and do not necessarily affect the scope or meaning of the claimed invention.